‘God was watching out for us’

Tonganoxie woman, son in London during last week’s bombings

Most Tonganoxie residents were thousands of miles away from the tragedy that struck London last week.

But Kellie Woolf and her son Stephen were minutes removed from the bombings in the English city's underground transit system.

Detonated bombs went off in three tube trains and one London bus Thursday morning, leaving more than 50 people known dead and 700 injured.

Train officials thought the three tube bombs detonated within 50 seconds of each other, the first exploding at 8:50 a.m. London time.

Kellie Woolf said she and her son were set to board the tube at 8:53 a.m. She had the option of an earlier tube that would have left 30 minutes before, but Kellie chose the second departure.

"I really think that God was watching out for us," Woolf said.

Woolf, who works for Tonganoxie's Peruvian Connection, took her son with her on a two-week trip that was part work, part vacation. Woolf was working at the company's office in Goring, about an hour outside London. On Thursday, she planned to meet a colleague at a tie store near the Liverpool tube terminal and then commute to nearby Ipswitch for a presentation.

At the last minute, the colleague suggested Stephen join Kellie for the short trip.

Thursday morning, Kellie and Stephen traveled from Goring to London. They planned to get on the tube at Paddington Station, meet Kellie's colleague at the Liverpool station and then head to Ipswitch via the tube.

That never happened.

As Kellie and Stephen tried to enter Paddington station, commuters were